Yankees calling up fallen prospect Estevan Florial for depleted outfield

Estevan Florial is getting another shot to help the Yankees’ depleted outfield.

It might be his best opportunity yet.

After passing him over for a promotion multiple times in the past week, the Yankees called up Florial on Tuesday before hosting the Phillies. The former top prospect took the roster spot of the recently called up Trey Amburgey, who was placed on the 10-day injured list with a right hamstring strain suffered in Sunday’s win over the Red Sox.

“I think we’ve all seen [Florial’s] talent and what he’s capable of,” manager Aaron Boone said. “Hopefully he can take advantage of this opportunity and give us a little bit of a spark, too. We certainly know what he’s capable of. Hopefully he can go out there and hold it down for us.”

The call-up is the fifth of Florial’s career, though he has only played in two of the first four — just one game apiece. The former top prospect made his debut in August 2020 as the 29th man of a doubleheader before being sent back to the alternate site the next day. After two more brief 2020 call-ups in which he did not play, Florial was promoted in May, but again played only one game with the Yankees before being optioned to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre later that night.

But this time around, there is no Yankees outfielder — or position player, for that matter — on the verge of returning to take his spot. Amburgey became the sixth Yankees outfielder to hit the IL, joining Aaron Judge (COVID), Aaron Hicks (season-ending wrist surgery), Clint Frazier (vision), Miguel Andujar (wrist) and Tim Locastro (torn ACL).

“I’m not going to lie to you, nobody comes up here and wants to go back there again,” Florial said. “You want to play in the big leagues, and you want to stay as long as you can up here. It’s frustrating because nobody wants to go to Triple-A or the minor leagues. But at the end, I know my situation. I haven’t played [a lot] at Double-A, Triple-A. For me, it was a good challenge to go up there and try to improve.”

The 23-year-old, whose development has been hindered by injuries in recent years, had not played above High-A before this season. He started the year with Double-A Somerset and was batting .211 with eight home runs and a .719 OPS in 43 games with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre before being recalled Tuesday.

Boone, in discussing calling up Ryan LaMarre on Sunday and not Florial to replace Locastro, had said the most important thing for Florial was staying healthy and continuing to get regular reps. While those everyday reps won’t be a given with the Yankees — the lefty-hitting Florial started Tuesday in center field against Phillies right-hander Aaron Nola — Boone was looking forward to seeing what he could do with the opportunity.

“He’s capable of doing a lot of different things on the baseball field,” Boone said. “From power to speed, getting on base, things like that. I’m hoping we can get a little shot of that here in the short term and hopefully he can take it and run with it a little bit.”

Since going back to Triple-A in May, Florial had been waiting for another shot while lately seeing other SWB outfielders get their opportunity. Since the All-Star break alone, the Yankees have called up Amburgey, Greg Allen and LaMarre to provide outfield depth while even using another new call-up, Hoy Park, in right field for part of one game.

But now Florial has joined them in The Bronx as Boone pieces together his outfield.

“Game by game, lefty/righty plays into it,” said Boone, who had Brett Gardner in left field and Greg Allen in right Tuesday. “Flo, [center is] where he’s pretty much played only, even though I know he’s capable of the corners. But I’ll have him in center for now.”